Section: US & Canada

Editor’s note: VOA’s London-based senior foreign correspondent, Al Pessin, spent six days in eastern Ukraine last week reporting on the Ukrainian military, frontline villages and towns, refugees and efforts to care for wounded troops. A thick layer of ice and a thin layer of snow cover much of eastern Ukraine. But it’s melting,...

Embattled Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he will fight a challenge to his leadership at a party-room meeting next week after disgruntled government lawmakers on Friday sought to oust him following weeks of divisive speculation. A member of Abbott’s ruling conservative Liberal Party, Western Australian MP Luke Simpkins, sent an...

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov plan to meet Saturday to discuss the escalating Ukraine conflict at this year’s Munich Security Conference in Germany. The U.S. has accused Russia of directly intervening on behalf of pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine, while Russia has criticized the U.S. for its...

DEBALTSEVE, Ukraine (AP) — Pro-Russia rebels and the Ukrainian authorities agreed Friday on a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians from the epicenter of fighting in eastern Ukraine as German and French leaders prepared to bring their peace plan to Moscow. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande are set to...

A European-led bid to quell fighting in Ukraine shifted to Moscow on Friday with Russian leaders warning that any proposals could be crushed if Washington decides to arm Ukraine’s military.The parallel tracks from the West — a peace bid while also considering the addition of more firepower in the conflict — presented an increasingly...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday that she and French President Francois Hollande will ‘use all our power’ while visiting Moscow to try and stop the bloodshed in eastern Ukraine. …read more Source: CTV...